Team Loses Championship Celebrating Despite Uncaught Third Strike

The Pal-Mac Red Raiders ran the bases to score the tying and winning runs to earn a walk-off New York V-BI championship win over Hornell after an umpire ruled that Hornell's catcher failed to tag the batter-runner following an uncaught third strike with two outs in the final inning of play.

With two on and two out in the bottom of the 7th inning (NFHS/high school plays seven innings to OBR's nine) and visiting Hornell leading Pal-Mac by a one-run margin, Pal-Mac's batter took a two-strike pitch for a called third strike. Hornell's catcher, however, did not catch the pitch and scooped up the uncaught third strike before attempting to tag the batter-runner, who was sprinting to first base.

As the catcher ventured toward the pitcher's mound to celebrate an apparent championship win with his team, he glanced at the home plate umpire momentarily, but didn't watch long enough to see the umpire give a "safe" sign, signifying that the batter-runner had not been retired.

With no third out recorded, Pal-Mac's runners kept running the bases, scoring the tying and winning runs as Hornell jumped up and down, celebrating a premature non-win in the infield.

Video as follows:

Alternate Link: HS team loses championship due to premature celebration on uncaught 3rd strike